So, yesterday started with me waking up around 6am so I could see Michele off (She was headed to Kyoto for a class trip). After she left I walked around Asakusa to see how much of the place I still remembered from my last time in Tokyo. I was pleased to see that my memory has served me well. I took a walk along the river on the new pedestrian walkway that has been getting built since I was here 2 years ago. I also walked to where the big lantern is (I'm sure it has a name, but I honestly don't know that I ever learned it.) and looked around there. I was pretty hungry so I wound up eating bacon topped okonomoyaki again. There were several street vendors selling food in the temple courtyard, and the okonomoyaki seemed like the most amount of food for the price.
After eating I returned to Michele's and reorganized the contents of my luggage a bit so that I wasn't carrying so much on my back. Now that I've landed I don't care if they're over 50 pounds. They have wheels, they can take it. (I would also like to take a brief moment to thank the whoever invented the wheel. I'd probably have put myself in a hospital by now if I'd had to carry all this stuff.) I also took some time to write a couple e-mails and check around for night bus tickets from Tokyo to Kyoto. I found one I wanted, and saved the page so I could come back to it later with some help (The whole process was through a Japanese website).
In the early afternoon I set out to meet my friend and former classmate Kevin. Kevin and I took Kanji together for a year before he left for Study Abroad at Akita International university (Northern Japan). He happened to be in Tokyo as the same time as me, so we had been planning on meeting up. We met outside Asakusa station and then went to this nifty little ramen shop, and were served delicious noodles by an awesome old man.
After Lunch Kevin and I headed to his hostle, got him checked in, and then opened up my night bus stuff to try and sort it out. It turned out to be rather more complicated then Kevin (Who had recommended them to me in the first place) had dealt with before. After much searching, running around to various stores to try and pay for my reservation, we wound up giving up. Instead I went to Michele's land lady and asked her if it would be ok for me to spend one more night in the room even though Michele wasn't home. Thankfully she said yes! (I thanked her with a healthy stack of chocolates when I returned the key before left this morning)
While all this bus nonsense was going on I recieved a message from Yoshimi (Who I met 2 years ago when I was in Yamanashi). Turns out she's still living in Tokyo, and whats more was free for the evening. So Kevin and I got on the trains and headed to Shibuya where she lives and met her at the Hachiko Statue (A famous statue of a dog that is a very popular meeting place). It was really good to see her after so long. Because my travel plans were so haphazard I wasn't expecting to be able to see her. I'm really glad it worked out.
Since none of us had eaten dinner yet (It was 7:30) Yoshimi lead Kevin and I to a shabu-shabu place. The place was delicious. Rather then trying to explain what shabu-shabu is, here's a picture.
(Yoshimi demonstrating her superior knowledge of shabu-shabu)
Basically you've got hot broth in the center, and you toss in vegetables and stuff to season it. Then you put in thinly sliced pieces of meat for a moment to cook it, and then you dip it in sauce and eat it. It's tasty stuff. And we had way too much fun hanging out and enjoying the food and each others company.
(Smiles all around. This is Kevin by the way.)
After dinner Yoshimi had to head home because she had work in the morning. (I hope she was able to get home early enough to get a good nights sleep) and Kevin and I headed back to Asakusa to sleep in our respective accommodations. A fantastic day if I do say so myself.
This morning, I woke up, checked mail and cleaned up the room that I was so graciously being lent by Michele and her land lady. After packing my stuff and returning the keys, I headed to Tokyo station. There I purchased a shinkansen (Bullet Train) ticket to Kyoto and boarded the train. The train ride was about two hours, and I was able to get some sleep. (I'm pretty sure I was snoring.) In between sleep though I did manage to take a couple pictures of Fuji.
Got to have pictures of Fuji right?After arriving in Kyoto I hoofed it to K's House Backpackers Hostel (I highly recommend K's House if ever you're considering traveling around Japan. They are an excellent company.). I had looked a map briefly before I left but I was able to find my way there mainly on memory. The hardest part was figuring out how to get to the northern side of the train station. I made it to K's House and checked in. While I was doing that, I made a grown man cry.... tears of laughter. Let me explain this a bit. So I'm pretty sure you know what I look like. I'm big, and scruffy. I've also just lugged in two rather large pieces of baggage plus my huge shoulder bag. And then when I'm handing him my money to pay for my reservation I pull out this:
(Isn't it cute?)
Anyway, I'm here at the hostel now, and will be meeting up with Mary and her family in an couple hours. Oh yes, Mary is my girlfriend. I realize some people may not even know I have one, and are probably wondering all about that. I'll do a post about that whole story soon.
Until then, Take care!
~Daniel
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